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Protesters

Today, Students For Liberty student leaders organized an event about Free Market Environmentalism (basically, how can concerns about the environment be addressed through market rather than government means?). Two people decided to stand up, shout, and obstruct one of the speakers. Unfortunately the organizers had to call campus police so that the event could continue.

Video of the incident is available here: http://bit.ly/1M8t1VR

I find this very unfortunate for a number of reasons. First, we *want* people of varying viewpoints to attend these conferences. The event was open to anybody but attendees were simply asked to not interrupt the speakers and were welcome to civilly disagree during question and answer opportunities. Second, I think these two are doing a disservice to a cause they are passionate about (if an SFL leader did this at an event on campus, I would be embarrassed). Third, I hate having to call the police and never want it to happen at an SFL event. And finally, I fear this is part of a growing trend of college students unwilling to critically engage with views different from their own.

I hope everyone who attended the event walks away with more knowledge of free market solutions to environmental concerns, even if they disagree with those solutions.

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Amash for Speaker?

Kevin McCarthy announced today he is no longer running for Speaker of the House. This is a swift fall from grace for the presumed successor to John Boehner. While we may never know, I am curious what caused McCarthy to pull out from this race. He had a fairly serious gaffe recently, but I didn’t expect it be serious enough to keep him from the Speakership.

Some of my libertarian friends would like to see Justin Amash as the next Speaker of the House. Sure, why not? Amash is a solid libertarian who has maintained his seat against challengers while voting true to his principles. He has nonpartisan appeal in his history of Facebook posts explaining his votes in Congress. I am personally grateful for all the time Amash has given up speaking at Students For Liberty and Young Americans for Liberty events for free including two events I organized while in college.

I have no reason to believe Amash has an actual chance at the Speakership. He is young, not extremely popular among Republicans, and isn’t being suggested by the colleagues who do like him. There are of course a number of other candidates who were being thrown around even before McCarthy bowed out.

The House Freedom Caucus, a group of Republicans of which Amash is a founding member, is supporting Daniel Webster for the Speakership. I don’t know much about Webster so I have nothing to say on his candidacy one way or the other.

However, I’m glad to see Amash gaining clout through a group like the House Freedom Caucus. Before McCarthy even dropped out, a few reporters speculated the House Freedom Caucus’ support for Webster was going to put McCarthy’s chances in doubt. It seems to me the best way to get the attention and support of a political power is not to merely support and partner with them but to scare them. Don’t let them (the powers that be!) take you for granted. I am pessimistic about opportunities for libertarians to gain change through direct political action but if it is going to happen, it will take the following: Show your power, gain a seat at the table, and fight for your top priorities.

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Is the libertarian moment over?

Is the libertarian moment over? Did it ever even begin? Jerry Taylor, President of the Niskanen Center, argues that libertarianism as a political ideology is struggling in the United States. “The collapse of Rand Paul”, Taylor argues, shows just how little public support is out there for libertarianism. Taylor’s argument is in direct contrast with speculation that the U.S. has been approaching a possible “libertarian moment”.

I agree with Taylor regarding the present and short-term future. Rand Paul, the most libertarian candidate in the current U.S. Presidential race, is drawing anemic poll numbers despite a slew of press pieces pointing out his unique views within the Republican field. I don’t predict the number of libertarian public officials or policies to significantly increase in the next five years. Those political outcomes are the result of the interest group jockying within the constraints of the “Overton Window” of public policy. The current state of opinion is not very libertarian.

I don’t think the collapse of Rand Paul’s polling numbers tell us much about the full political prospects of libertarianism. While Rand Paul is arguably the most libertarian member of the Republican field, there is a legitimate case to be made that his campaign would be in better position if he branded himself as more of a libertarian. Jacob Sullum argues Rand Paul is not very libertarian on drug policy. This year Paul proposed a 16 percent increase to the defense budget. Ed Crane wants to know why Rand Paul has stopped using his libertarian views to distinguish himself.

This is no “no true Scotsman” defense of libertarianism. For the record, I think no true libertarian can be elected President of the United States right now. How close a candidate can get to electoral success, however, we can’t judge from Rand Paul. Take it from the man himself, he’s “not a libertarian”.

More importantly, Taylor fails to address the most promising (for libertarians) input into the American Overton Window: young people. Self-identified libertarians are a larger share of the population among young people. A YouGov poll found that 20% of millenials identify as libertarians, higher than the 15% figure across all demographics. This isn’t an earth-shattering shift, but it is a trend in the right direction for libertarians. Political beliefs at the start of adulthood tend to hold relatively steady throughout one’s lifetime. Ray Fisman found evidence of this political inertia at least within the confines of the two-party system. If this is indeed true, the growing contingent of young libertarians should hold during the lifetimes of millenials.

One more thought: Taylor rightfully points out that the candidate of choice for “libertarian-inclined Republicans is Donald Trump, the least libertarian candidate in the race”. A large portion of this can likely be explained by sad but harsh truths to libertarians: many of the libertarian-inclined Republicans are probably not very libertarian and this demographic may be more concerned with race than we would like to think. But don’t discount the desire of many libertarians to see the (political) world burn. Donald Trump is political kerosene right now.

I’m not certain young Americans will turn out to be a net-positive force for libertarianism. I don’t think Rand Paul or any libertarian candidate has a shot at the Presidency right now. But Rand Paul’s failing campaign doesn’t tell us much about the political prospects of libertarians and the growing interest in libertarianism among young people is a reason for libertarian optimism. 
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Elaine Vechorik: Unsung Hero

During today’s lunch at the State Policy Network Annual Meeting, the Vernon Kreeble Foundation awarded their Unsung Hero Award. The goal of this award, as I understand it, is to recognize an unconventional yet successful hero of individual liberty. These heroes aren’t your standard think tank leaders or political party officials. Past award winners (I believe the award is now five years old) include a ‘government watchdog’ and an independent daycare provider who took on a government union.

This year’s award winner Elaine Vechorik started a business with her husband. As their business succeeded and stabilized, she found herself with free time which she choose to fill with pro-liberty political activism. In her three years as an activist in Mississippi, she has rolled back restrictions on gun laws, ended a money-grabbing licensing scheme, and is now working on fighting civil asset forfeiture.

Elaine’s remarks on stage were the highlight of my day. She highlighted her successes as an activist as well as her failures. Along with her failures she offered lessons learned from those failures. She told us that at first, she merely focused on writing about issues and argued that merely writing on an issue (even calling out white papers, an old standard for SPN groups) will not cause change. She urged the audience to avoid groups that value fundraising success and/or votes over true success (which I think she would define as change). Finally, she suggested avoiding constant arguing and complaining. Ignoring national issues she could not change and focusing on local and state issues, she told us, was the best change she made as an activist.

For me, the biggest takeaway from Elaine’s remarks was the importance of training and welcoming new activists. From the audience I could feel her past frustration trying to break in to the world of political activism. I also felt her good faith to learn with an open mind and develop the skills necessary to achieve change.

Public choice economics allows us to use economics to understand how politics actually works. It demonstrates how our assumptions and intuitions about politics can lead us to ineffective methods of political activism. Hopefully, there are a number of humble and eager persons ready to fight for liberty. For those of us who are ‘professionals’ in the field, it is vital that we respectfully and kindly work to prepare and provide the proper training necessary for effective political activism.

Congratulations Elaine. Your award seems well-deserved and your remarks were inspiring. I wish you the best in your continued activism for liberty in Mississippi.
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Start of State Policy Network Annual Meeting 2015

I am on my way to the State Policy Network’s (SPN) Annual Meeting today. SPN is the network of state-based free market think tanks in the United States. I have previously attended this event in Amelia Island, FL and Oklahoma City. This year the event is being hosted by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Grand Rapids, MI. I spent the summer of 2012 as an intern at the Mackinac Center working on their Michigan Capitol Confidential publication. My work from that time, a series of investigative journalism pieces of government investments in green energy projects, is available online here.

I attended my first SPN Annual Meeting through their Generation Liberty Fellowship for young people interested in free market think tank work. I hosted a session on student outreach for think tanks on behalf of SFL. I think it was a moderately successful session. The next year I attended entirely on behalf of SFL, again running the student outreach session.

This year I have four primary areas of focus. The first is professional development through sessions on management and fundraising. The second is fundraising through meeting with new, potential, and current SFL donors. Third is maintaining SFL’s presence at our exhibitor booth. My final focus is networking with existing and new contacts, updating them on SFL’s work and my current role as well as learning of new projects from other organizations.

I am very excited for this conference and hope to gain a lot from my participation. This is my first non-SFL libertarian event in months. Following the conference, Kelly and I will meet up and head to Michigan State to attend the football game against Purdue with my old roommates and their significant others: Nick, Jay, Kara, Kyle, and Kate. On Sunday, we will celebrate my 24th birthday with my family. This should be a great week!